"RogerN" wrote in message
m...

"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...

snip

Jefferson, as I said, was a Deist who admired Jesus's philosophy.

What does Jefferson say (though I'm sure he doesn't know himself as well
as
modern liberals do)

"To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed; but not to the
genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian..."
To Dr. Benjamin Rush, with a Syllabus
Washington, Apr. 21, 1803
"A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen; it is a
document in proof that I am a real Christian..."

Thomas Jefferson to Charles Thomson, January 9, 1816

So shall we believe Ed on Thomas Jefferson or Thomas Jefferson himself?
What about his writings against Christianity? Could it be he was
referring
to the "corruptions of Christianity" that he wrote about above? If you
interpert his writing in light of his other writings, it makes sense that
either he was two people or he was for real Christianity but against
corrupted Christianity, just as all real Christians are. But I have heard
that he was one of the least religious of the founding fathers. Perhaps
the
reason Jesus isn't mentioned in the Constitution is because they didn't
want
to hear the leftards grumbling about it. :-)

As for Christianity and Christian principles...well, the letter to Short
lays it out pretty well. Jefferson considered himself a "true" Christian
in the sense that he believed deeply in the teachings of Jesus, although
not in his divinity or his ability to perform miracles. And he thought
that the idea that Jesus was the son of God was nonsense. He considered
Jesus to be our greatest philosopher, and all of the trappings that had
been attached to his life, which became the religion Christianity and
which fills much of the New Testament, Jefferson called "a dunghill."
Jefferson again:

--
Ed Huntress

What makes Jesus different than just another philosopher is that God
"signed" his teachings with the "signs and wonders". This is more than a
2000 year old story because these "signs and wonders" (the same miracles
that Jesus did and even greater miracles) are not to stop until we are
"face
to face" with Jesus. So, why don't we see many of these "signs and
wonders"
today? Jesus seemed to have a tough time finding people to "believe and
not
doubt". After Jesus' disciples healed sick and cast out demons, they had
one they couldn't cast out and they brought him to Jesus, Jesus cast out
the
demon. The disciples ask why they couldn't cast it out, Jesus said it was
because of their unbelief and that faith like that comes from prayer and
fasting. Notice Jesus ministry and miracles didn't start until after his
40
days of fasting and temptation, also note that Jesus often retreated into
the mountains, I'm guessing it was for prayer and fasting.

So, if someone wants to follow Jesus and be able to do the miracles that
Jesus did, they could start by giving every part of their life to Jesus.
Retreat from the world, pray and fast, seek God with all your being, read
Jesus' teachings in the gospels and do what he says. Then go, heal the
sick, raise the dead, and preach the good news! The reason we don't see
this is because doing this isn't easy.


And maybe it's because nobody actually really did it. A reasonable person
would question the truthfulness and accuracy of something written a hundred
years ago. For something written thousands of years ago a reasonable person
would accept little or nothing as being completely accurate. Not you though.
Same with the Muslims. You and them think what was written thousands of
years ago is perfect. A reasonable person knows it's not. But you can't even
see how similar your behavior is to the Sunnis and Shiites. I can. Two peas
in a pod, just a different book is all that's different.

Hawke